Chef Mavro Revamps its Popular Malassada Dessert

While the prix fixe menu at the award-winning Chef Mavro in Honolulu changes with the seasons, one dish always remains: the lilikoi malassada.

This is chef George “Mavro” Mavrothalassitis (@chefmavro)’s version of the traditional Portuguese dessert — really just fried dough doused in white sugar — and filled with tangy passionfruit. It’s such a popular item, it tends to stay on the menu, even when everything else changes.

But this month the restaurant — the only independently owned one in Hawaii to earn the American Automobile Association (AAA) Five Diamond status for three consecutive years — will unveil an entire lineup of flavored malassadas. In addition to its popular lilikoi filling, Mavro now offers azuki bean and apple with li hing mui. These deep-fried treats are served with vanilla ice cream made with vanilla from the Hawaiian Vanilla Co. on the Big Island, the first commercial growers in the United States.

“The new fillings just told me ‘vanilla,'” Mavro said.

The restaurant is currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hawaii Regional Cuisine, of which Mavro was a part.